DARWIN is on his 12th year of teaching, currently at Springville High School teaching astronomy, geology, environmental science, and physics. He also teaches physics at UVU for a 7 week STEM summer school program for junior high students. He also teaches teenagers in our church ward. He's super busy, but still makes time to be an awesome dad and husband.
Backing up just a little bit, Savannah really wanted a rainbow pinata for her birthday, which was back in March. I had ordered one off Amazon but when her birthday rolled around, the weather wasn't that great and most of the friends we invited over to celebrate with us weren't able to come. So, we held off on doing the pinata (luckily I hadn't told her that I had gotten one for her yet).
We figured Cinco de Mayo would be the perfect time to pull out her rainbow pinata. So, all for the sake of our sweet little Savannah and her rainbow pinata, we invited some friends over for a Cinco de Mayo fiesta. Both girls were very excited about it, and Savannah was convinced it was her birthday party. I didn't want to crush her thinking, so we just went along with it and let her think it was her birthday party, even though there weren't any presents this time. Just good food, great friends and a fun time!
Daddy filling the pinata with candy. Yum!
Don't mind the girls' wild curls. I had good intentions of making the girls look cute and get their hair fixed up nice, but my day did not go as planned, so they both had "crazy hair" for the party because we ran out of time.
I made a yummy Cafe Rio knock off recipe, but there was a big chicken fiasco that put a hitch in my plans and the timing of my day.
A few months ago, we had purchased a 40 pound box of frozen chicken breasts from a local grocery store during a sale they were having just so we'd have some on hand. We hadn't needed to use the chicken in that box until this meal and when I pulled the 40 pound box of frozen chicken out of the freezer to put a few breasts in the crock pot, the entire box was one solid mass of frozen chicken breasts. (Have you ever lifted a 40 pound box of frozen chicken? Geesh!) I was furious at first. $50+ dollars for that box of chicken and I couldn't do anything with it!!! A complete waste of money. I called the store before I loaded my kids up, and the manager of the meat department said he'd give me a full refund. I was grateful that he was so quick to understand my frustration and that I would get my money back. I was boggled that he said "sometimes it just comes like that." Really!? Who in their right mind would buy 40 pounds of chicken you have to thaw and use all at once? Maybe for girls camp or something, but I'm sure most people don't expect their whole box of chicken to be a big, frozen brick! Either way, I had to get chicken for dinner because we had friends coming over to eat with us. If it was just our family I would have switched gears and just made something else for dinner, but we had company coming over. Before I could go to the store, I had to feed Talmage first, then I had to load all three kids into the car plus the 40 pound box of frozen chicken and finally headed to the store an hour after I made the call, still in my pajamas, to return my useless 40 pound box of chicken and get some stuff I could actually use for dinner that night. I finally got home and got the chicken in the crock pot an hour and a half after it should have been started. I have an angel husband who stepped up to the plate and helped me get everything ready as soon as he walked in the door from work. We ended up having to partially cook the chicken on the stove so it would be ready in time but dinner turned out delicious after all, and we had a great time with our friends and the pinata!
Savannah got to whack it first because it was her birthday pinata :)
Daddy was at the controls
The crowd :)
Aurora felt super special because she's the one who got to break it open.
Collecting the goodies!
The kiddos with their loot.
I'm so glad we have such great friends who will come do random stuff like this with us. The pinata was a big hit, and it really was such a fun night!
I made a yummy Cafe Rio knock off recipe, but there was a big chicken fiasco that put a hitch in my plans and the timing of my day.
A few months ago, we had purchased a 40 pound box of frozen chicken breasts from a local grocery store during a sale they were having just so we'd have some on hand. We hadn't needed to use the chicken in that box until this meal and when I pulled the 40 pound box of frozen chicken out of the freezer to put a few breasts in the crock pot, the entire box was one solid mass of frozen chicken breasts. (Have you ever lifted a 40 pound box of frozen chicken? Geesh!) I was furious at first. $50+ dollars for that box of chicken and I couldn't do anything with it!!! A complete waste of money. I called the store before I loaded my kids up, and the manager of the meat department said he'd give me a full refund. I was grateful that he was so quick to understand my frustration and that I would get my money back. I was boggled that he said "sometimes it just comes like that." Really!? Who in their right mind would buy 40 pounds of chicken you have to thaw and use all at once? Maybe for girls camp or something, but I'm sure most people don't expect their whole box of chicken to be a big, frozen brick! Either way, I had to get chicken for dinner because we had friends coming over to eat with us. If it was just our family I would have switched gears and just made something else for dinner, but we had company coming over. Before I could go to the store, I had to feed Talmage first, then I had to load all three kids into the car plus the 40 pound box of frozen chicken and finally headed to the store an hour after I made the call, still in my pajamas, to return my useless 40 pound box of chicken and get some stuff I could actually use for dinner that night. I finally got home and got the chicken in the crock pot an hour and a half after it should have been started. I have an angel husband who stepped up to the plate and helped me get everything ready as soon as he walked in the door from work. We ended up having to partially cook the chicken on the stove so it would be ready in time but dinner turned out delicious after all, and we had a great time with our friends and the pinata!
Savannah got to whack it first because it was her birthday pinata :)
Daddy was at the controls
The crowd :)
Aurora felt super special because she's the one who got to break it open.
Collecting the goodies!
The kiddos with their loot.
I'm so glad we have such great friends who will come do random stuff like this with us. The pinata was a big hit, and it really was such a fun night!
